Okay guys, I've just recently started getting seriuos about my weight loss. The thing that's scaring me is giving up sweets. I *love* cakes, cookies, brownies, ice cream, etc. etc. WHAT can I replace that unhealthy stuff with, so I don't feel depressed and deprived? I really don't like fruit, but I'm trying to change that.

Liana, You don't really have to give up all that stuff. It is all about portion control and picking the right stuff. I lost most of the weight I already lost while still having ice cream every night. I recently switched to strawberries and blueberries with Light Cool Whip. Everything tastes good with Cool Whip!

If you haven't tried anything from No Pudge you should check your stores. The brownies are fabulous! Easy to make too. The ice cream bars are also good. I would pick up some Cooking Light magazines or cookbooks. I have found some great light dessert recipes there. One of my favorites is bananas, FF vanilla pudding, FF or light poundcake with Light Cool Whip and tiny crumbles of Heath/Skor bars on top. There are also quite a few Weight Watchers snacks that are good. I have seen them at Walmart. You have to be creative. Don't deny yourself, just watch how much you eat. Try to remember this is going to be FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. You will never manage if you don't let yourself have the stuff you love.

Good luck!

My suggestion...get sugar free pudding and cool whip free. It's about 75 calories combined, and is still yummy. Other than that, you can find sugar free fudgesicles and creamsicles, or snack on a few tootsie rolls....low in fat and calories.

If you'd rather not have that kind of stuff, try strawberries and Cool Whip Free. That should satisfy a sweet tooth!

I totally know what you're saying. If someone told me I could weigh 130 pounds tomorrow if I never ate a donut again...I probably wouldnt do it. lol.

As mentioned before you can eat ANYTHING, it's all a matter of whether you want to or not. Here's and example; a plain bagel with cream cheese is about 450 calories, and 15 grams of fat and a couple grams of fiber. For that 450 calories I could have; 3 strips of turkey bacon (60 cals,) 2 whole wheat waffles (180 cals,) 1 cup of melted strawberries (70 cals,) 1/2 cup scrambled eggbeaters (100 cals) and a half cup of skim milk (40 cals) and I bet you if I chose the latter I wouldnt be hungry 20 minutes later! ya know?

The same thing applies with portion control. If you HAVE to have that ice cream and no substitute will do (Slim a bear klondike bars are fantastic btw, my fiance hates low fat ice cream, and he cant tell the difference in these!- 170 cals, 9 grams of fat- a lot but worth it if you *need* some chocolate coated ice cream) anyways if you HAVE to have that ice cream portion out one serving size and enjoy it, then add it to your daily calories and move on.

The other day I had to have some chocolate. So I ate 3 pieces of real milk chocolate for 100 cals, and 5.5 grams of fat. It didnt ruin my life, or my diet and I dont crave it anymore- so I know I wont binge on it later.

As far as replacing things, I was just thinking about this the other day. I've always looked forward to summer because it's like an all day eating pass to icecreamville! But you know what? A huge bowl or strawberries with whipped cream or fresh fresh watermelon is just as awesome, and fresh fruit is a huge treat when you think about the fact that you get it only a few months out of the year.

Dont think of healthy changes as giving anything up, think about it as broadening your horizons. Good luck!

well..i would say take one step at a time..
if anything has helped me is the fact i took things slow..as in i changed white pasta for wholegrain BUT i still have white pasta sometimes just not as much.. and white bread for wholegrain ect..

if you jump into the deep end to fast you will tend to give up..
there is nothing wrong having a bit of ice cream or cookies...sometimes..i dont like sweets that much but having it once a week isnt going to make you gain weight same if you wanted fastfood say once a month it wouldnt hurt your progress..

and me i dont like fruits either that much however i eat a banana everyday after my workouts and sometimes i eat stawberrys or rasberries.. but i LOVE veggies and i have gotten there..dont make yourself eat something if you dont want it just try to change other areas of your eating and you should get the results you want..

Well, I gave up fastfood last year, so that's not really a hurdle for me, thank goodness. I watched that movie Supersize Me, and gave it up, LOL! I used to LIVE on McDonalds, but now the thought of it makes my stomach turn, and I don't crave it at all anymore.

My downfall is chocolate! I love love love chocolate! I read on another thread about Jello Pudding Pops having only 90 calories, so maybe I'll try those. I just have to be sure not to binge on them, ya know?

Thanks for pointing out that I don't have to give up the evil stuff all together though. I just better not have it around too often, cuz I tend to eat it until it's gone.

I bought fruit last night, so hoping my body will learn to like that more than chocolate.

I am a big sweets addict too, and honestly it hasn't been that bad. Here are the things I've done to handle my sweet tooth:

-ovaltine. Satisfies a chocolate craving and with skim milk it's really not too bad. The serving size for the chocolate ovaltine is 4 tbsp but if you use 2 tbsp in a cup of milk it's very rich and chocolatey.

-dark chocolate. I let myself have one square of dark chocolate if I want it.

-frozen grapes. I've discovered them to be an amazing substitute for ice cream.

-Nabisco 100-calorie packs. I tried them for the first time yesterday and if you're craving cookies, it's a nice little snack. And you can't go overboard as easily because they're already in indivudual packs .

-if I take my kids to get ice cream, I just ask for a sample taste of my favorite. That way I get a taste. My son can't have peanut butter and my daughter only likes strawberry ice cream, so I get my chocolate peanut butter ice cream taste and can easily resist "tastes" of my kids' ice cream cones.

-and most important (for me), Measure Measure Measure. I actually came by here specifically to start a post about portion sizes. I have really had to re-train myself with portion sizes. I was eating SO much and calling it one serving. If you have ice cream or chocolate, pay attention to your portions. One little piece of chocolate isn't that bad if the rest of your diet is balanced and healthy, but you have to pay attention to your servings.

Skinny Cow. Skinny Cow all the way, I tell you. The ice cream sandwiches are only 140 calories. They have gotten me through many a ice cream craving. And you get to act like a kid and lick the cakey bits off your fingers when you're done

I hope this wont be too long winded, but I am so excited!!
Background: I am the worst sweet/chocolate/carb addict I know...I honestly if given the choice would eat sugar and bread and potatoes and chocolate and call them the four most important food groups ever invented!!
I have tried WW, Atkins, Calorie counting, TOPS and many others...
I was sitting in my kitchen about 4 weeks ago and decided to go on a calorie counting diet. I did great...i didn't cheat once in two weeks...but I made sure to have at least 100 cals out of 1000 a day for sweets...real healthy huh?!
Then my daughter gave me the south beach book. I read it and it described me to a "T". I am not advocating anyone else try it, but I am happier on this than I have ever been on any diet ever before...and my cravings are gone! It is so wierd...kind of scary actually!! But great!!
My signature says I have lost 2 lbs...but I lost 11 lbs before I started S.B. as I was counting calories, for a total of 13 so far the past 4 weeks. I only put my S.B. pounds here though! I am hopeful it will be a pleasant surprise in the morning as I have completed week 2/phase 1 on south beach and it is my weigh in day!!!
Good luck everyone, it is a daily, ongoing state of mind and I hope I will see this battle through to the end!!! I really appreciate all the threads here as I am getting even more motivated by all of you.

I know what you mean there that movie is a eye opener. we watched that with our son and he wont eat at MickeyDs anymore either and hes 11.

As for covering your sweet tooth. I think once you got your body used to not having the grease and the sugar you will be happy with fruits and sugar free puddings and rasins and sugar free jello, Today we tried the new SouthBeach cookies and they were really good. Me and my husband spilt a pack of two and it was kind of a treat since I was not going to have a birthday cake I had one of those cookies and they tasted really good.
Everything in monderation and watch the ingrediants you want to stay away from the high frutose corn syrup and the sugar.
You can eat healthy and still get in those sweets in a more healthy way.
Natural sweets are the best way to go.

Instead of replacing them with something, why not give them up all together? Just a suggestion. Anytime in the past that I tried to replace lowfat/low sugar treats to satisfy my chocolate and sugar cravings (I LOVE chocolate and sugar... cakes and any baked items) I would binge on the "healthy" alternatives, and eventually I would go off my plan for good and gain weight.

This time, I decided to do a sugar and white flour detox. I took out almost ALL sugar (some normal stuff still has a few grams here and there, like wheat bread, etc.) and white flour. I am LOVING it! I would have told you a couple weeks ago that I was not ready to give them up... I can't live without my baked goods, chocolate, etc... But that was just the sugar addiction talking! I don't even miss them now, and that feels SO GOOD! It feels amazing actually. I feel free and light without all that stuff. I don't even eat the SF puddings, etc. I only feed my body things that are healthy and good for it because that is pretty much all I crave now. I even find myself craving bell peppers (for the crunch, lol!).

Just wanted to throw that suggestion in there. If you can give them up for a week, your body will not crave them as bad. Any cravings you *may* have will not be bad and can be overcome by eating good foods.

i think you should find out wat work best for you. i heard alot about you shouldnt do this or that but only you and your body can make that decision. don't worry about if this ok just make a good meal plan that satisfy you and go from there. everybody is different so see what work for you.

I found that Breyer's light ice cream is really good, and tastes pretty much like regular ice cream I'm doing WW, so its 3 pts per serving. I had the butter pecan kind, and it was sooo good

The one thing that has been helping me, is measuring everything.

The WW plan has been working out great for me. I'm still able to have foods that are forbidden on other diet plans, and that works for me. Its helping me realize what a real serving size is, and also helping me make better choices. I'm finding that I'd rather have something thats better for me, like fruit, yogurt, veggies etc and have more of it, than have 11 chips or 2 cookies for more points.

Good luck!

~Liz

I would like to add that while you can use these healthier substitutes to calm a sweet tooth, that moderation is the key. If you are eating a low calorie diet-say 1400 calories a day, you do not want 400 calories of it to be "low fat junk". If you limit yourself to one low fat/low sugar/low carb (depending on what type of plan you are on) "treat", then limit it to one serving a day-maybe at snacktime.
The thing that is a big problem here in America especially, is that we have evolved to having cakes, cookies, and chips as a regular part of our daily diets-instead of for special occasions like birthdays and holidays. They are supposed to be "treats" and not a regular daily part of the diet. Healthy "real" foods should be eaten most of the time.
What I get a lot of here at 3FC is private messages asking "What am I doing wrong?" when someone hits a plateau, and a lot of time there are 3-4 diet treat foods eaten per day, even if the person is staying within their calorie, fat, WW points, or carb limits for their particular plan. What really helps is to have the occasional treat, but to make it just that-a treat.
There are some fabulous diet friendly treats that are actually a truly healthy choice-if you like apple pie, core an apple, put some cinnamon and a dash of Splenda in the center cored out area, and microwave it 30 seconds at a time (checking it for doneness) until it is cooked through. MARVELOUS...and 100% fruit.

I am absolutely not saying that you shouldn't eat diet treats-but there are a lot of dieters eating very little or no fruits and veggies-but having 2-3 Skinny Cows a day.

Aphil, I actually started drooling when you mentioned that apple dessert. Two questions about it:

1. Does it matter what kind of apple?

and

2. Does it need to be covered?

I bet it'd be heaven with a dollop of fat free Cool Whip, too.